Officials say flood relief coming to West Quincy

Friday

Aug 30, 2013 at 12:01 AMAug 30, 2013 at 10:03 PM

Work recently started on a $3 million project aimed at helping Furnace Brook hold more water, a plan officials expect will reduce flooding in West Quincy. For decades, the neighborhood has been deluged by water during rainstorms, forcing some people out of their homes and causing extensive property damage.

Patrick Ronan

Officials say homeowners in an often-flooded section of Quincy should expect drier days now that crews are cleaning out Furnace Brook.

Work recently started on a $3 million project aimed at helping Furnace Brook hold more water, a plan officials expect will reduce flooding in West Quincy. For decades, the neighborhood has been deluged during rainstorms, forcing some people out of their homes and causing extensive property damage.

The project, part of Mayor Thomas Koch’s $10 million capital plan to control flooding citywide, is broken into two phases and covers about a 2-mile stretch of Furnace Brook. First, crews will remove brush from the brook. Then they will dredge the brook and repair walls that have collapsed.

“The water has to go somewhere; previously it was going into people’s basements and backyards,” said Ward 4 City Councilor Brian Palmucci, who represents West Quincy. “In the future, more of that water will flow into the brook and out into the ocean without causing property damage.”

Last year, a study found that during heavy storms, floodwater from Furnace Brook spewed up and out of the drains into neighborhoods. This has contributed to some wet – and expensive – seasons for residents, including the spring of 2010 when part of a West Quincy neighborhood flooded so badly that it was declared a federal disaster area.

Christopher Walker, a spokesman for Koch, said the Furnace Brook project will not eliminate flooding in the bowl-shaped neighborhood, but it will make a difference.

“There will be more to do,” Walker said. “This is a pretty good step forward.”

Walker said drainage repairs are planned for West Quincy once the Furnace Brook work is done in about a year. D & C Construction of Rockland was hired to clear the brook.

City officials have said West Quincy needs a large pumping station that would force surging waters away from the neighborhoods, a project that could cost up to $10 million. Last year, the city spent $485,000 to buy land at 20 Furnace Ave. as a potential site for the pumping station.

The purchase was part of the city’s $25 million capital improvement plan, approved by the city council in May 2011. Of the $25 million, which the city is borrowing and will pay off over 20 years, $10 million is for flood control.

Palmucci, who is running for re-election this fall against challenger Michael Healy, said the capital improvements in his ward were decades overdue.

“The work being done on Furnace Brook is one of those projects that will have a very clear and immediate impact,” Palmucci said.

Healy, on the other hand, said there is no flood relief in sight for West Quincy residents because there is no funding to build the pumping station at 20 Furnace Ave.

Patrick Ronan may be reached at pronan@ledger.com or follow on Twitter @PRonan_Ledger.